Moray SNP News

Richard Lochhead MSP has today welcomed the Scottish Government announcement that over £2million of funding is being made available to train an extra 260 teachers next year.

Commenting on the news Mr Lochhead said:

“The challenges that the Moray Council has faced in recruiting teachers and filling vacancies in our schools are well known. I’ve been in regular contact with the Education Minister on this issue and I’m pleased that the Scottish Government is investing £2million to train an extra 260 teachers next year.

“It is absolutely vital that we have the right number of teachers in our schools to provide young people in Moray with the best opportunities and I’m hopeful that our local schools will benefit from the steps being taken to increase teacher numbers and to review whether additional steps need to be taken to ensure that we have the teachers we need in our schools.”

The increase of 60 primary and 200 secondary student teacher places will bring the total intake to 3,490, a rise for the fifth year in a row. This breaks down as:
• 1,230 post-graduate primary places - up 60 on last year’s target
• 710 undergraduate primary places
• 1,350 secondary places - up 185 on last year’s target
• 200 undergraduate secondary places - up 15 on last year’s target

A teacher recruitment campaign was launched in September with a focus on attracting teachers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.

The Scottish Government is also asking the new Strategic Board for Teacher Education to consider whether further actions are needed to make sure we have the right numbers of teachers in our schools.

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